Beef Bourguignon

In the mood for comfort food, I made beef bourguignon the other day – a wonderfully rich stew of beef braised in red wine, with garlic, mushrooms, potatoes and pearl onions. This bistro favourite is adapted from Delia Smith.

Ingredients serves 4-6

250g streaky bacon, cut into lardons

1 kg chuck steak, cut into 2″ squares

1 medium onion, sliced

1 heaped tbl plain flour

425ml red Burgundy

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

3 large potatoes, quartered

100g mushrooms quartered

350g shallots, whole, peeled

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Fry the lardons over high heat in a large, heavy-based casserole dish. Remove bacon and set aside

Brown the chuck steak in batches in the rendered bacon fat. Remove from pan as they brown

Add the onion to the pan and fry for a few minutes

Add the flour to the onions and stir well

Add the beef back to the pot, along with the Burgundy, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and bring to boil

Reduce heat to a slow simmer, cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours, until beef is tender

Add the bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, shallots to the pan, season to taste and simmer for a further hour